Many ovens and oven configurations have been designed in order to facilitate or enhance various aspects of use and operation.
For example, conveyor ovens have been designed and constructed which carry a food product on a wire mesh conveyor so that cooking or heating processes are applied to the food as the conveyor moves the food product through the oven. In order to accommodate the conveyor, such ovens typically have an open entrance and an open exit which may be shielded, but which nevertheless allows heated air and radiation transfer between the interior and the exterior of the oven through the open passages.
Various ovens have been known in which the door essentially comprises a flat surface which sealingly abuts against the perimeter face of a rectangular opening. Typical household ovens are of this type and they usually have a wide interior opening to facilitate loading and unloading of the oven. Loading and unloading is also facilitated with slidable racks or wire shelves. These racks typically must be separately slid in and out after the oven door is fully open.
Other ovens, such as pizza restaurant ovens, have been designed with close top to bottom spacing in which the food product is inserted by an operator with an elongated peel. Without a peel or similar long-handled tool, the operator would risk burning injuries by sticking a hand into the oven.
Ovens have been constructed and tested which have a door-mounted rack for facilitating loading and unloading as the rack pivots with the door into and out of the heated oven area. One example of an oven with a door-mounted rotary rack is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,924,763 to Bingham. The rack can be conveniently loaded when the door is swung open. The food is automatically placed in the heated section upon closing the door. Some racks have been made rotatable to facilitate even heating and food processing as desired.
Previously, door-mounted motors for driving a rotatable rack has projected outward from the door in a cumbersome fashion requiring additional clearance space for the oven. Ovens as in co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 07/699,774, filed May 14, 1991, co-owned herewith, have solved numerous oven access problems associated with prior known ovens which were not equipped with door-mounted heating racks.
However, most typically, the foregoing closable ovens required adequate clearance space exterior to the oven, which clearance space had to be equal to the radius of the door measured from the hinge to the maximum point on the door or on any door-mounted rack. Particularly in the case of an oven with a door-mounted rotatable rack having a diameter equal to the door width, the door had to be opened nearly to its 90.degree. position with respect to the face of the oven so that the rack could be accessed.